Knives + fridge + a silly gringa= problems

me with the massive ice chunk


I feel compelled to write this entry and share my sad tale in hopes of sparing some other volunteer or whoever the same sad fate. Last month when my freezer freaked out and the ice grew beyond what could be kept and i could nolonger close my fridge i decided to take a knife to the ice. I felt so powerful chopping away at the massive chunk of ice- breaking off pieces and feeling it´s icy coldness (it´s hot here and it felt like a bit of wisconsin). After several hours of hard work I managed to get out about 1/3 of the ice and was able to close my fridge once again. Well.... last week after several days without electricity I realized that I had stabbed my fridge. When the electricity came back my fridge never got cold and the ice began to melt exposing the stab wounds. I still had no real clue that it was the stabbing that was causing my fridge to malfunction. While talking to several friends in town they mentioned how the volunteer before me had used a knife to get rid of extra ice and had stabbed her fridge and damaged it. They laughed telling this story, i mean how crazy does someone have to be to take a knife to their fridge. I turned red and confessed that I too had used a knife and that i too had accidently stabbed my fridge. They told me not to worry. The volunteer before me was able to get her fridge (which is currently my fridge) fixed and that miguel´s cousin is the fridge repairman. So we found Jerardo sitting barefoot on the malecon and walked back to my house. He took one knowing look at my broken fridge and told me that when i stabbed it i had struck gas which had all leaked out. So very very sad. Jerardo was great though. We went to the city the next morning so he could buy the supplies and then he fixed my fridge. 40 bucks total but i was thrilled that my fridge was not dead. But then.... several days later i realized it´s not cold again. Jerardo fixes it again. another 20 bucks. Now 60 dollars in the whole and my fridge appears to be in good health. So here is hoping that this is the end of the fridge saga. But my sage wisdom is-- please! never knife out your ice! just unplug your fridge and let it melt naturally.


rainy season

so the rains have come to palmar and the things are green again and the dust has settled! it´s wonderful. but oh-- the pure mud and mosquitos. just thought i would send you a coupla mud photos, also some of our quails and the giant hole that miguel and i dug.

Here are a coupla of New Years Poems

Gratitude.

I am content
waking alone
brush the sand from my sheets
slip my dirty feet into my dirty flip flops

light the stove, boil water
for coffee
and mutter something like a plea
for salvation

I doubt this will keep me
from all the wrong that I have done
but still, I wake with this desire
to let it fall away
be new
and wear my life like the most beautiful dress
that I could never afford



under the pelican´s blessing

returning with silver gifts from
deeper waters
the boats come to shore

hard shoulders
bearing plastic buckets of fish
pressing through the shallow waves

returning to offer
the next meal, pay rent
and clothe the children

hard shoulders and cracked lips
returning after the sea has rattled their bones
all through the darkness
and they will wake do the same tomorrow